By: Almir Teslic
On Friday, September 5th, boxing fans worldwide
get a major treat as former two-division champion Roman Gonzalez fights for his
first Flyweight title against WBC Flyweight king Akira Yaegashi. This is the
first of two fascinating matches featuring two top Flyweights this weekend, the
other being Juan Francisco Estrada and Giovani Segura on Saturday in Mexico.
The Flyweight division is among the strongest in boxing and the pairing of four
top Flyweight’s battling it out in one weekend is sure to produce one of the
best boxing weekends of the year.
The champion Yaegashi comes into this fight just a year in a
half removed from his fantastic victory over Toshiyuki Igarashi and has since
scored victories over Edgar Sosa and Odilon Zaleta. Yaegashi has quick feet and
his movement will be a key for him to retain his title in this fight against
the relentless challenger. Yaegashi will look to capitalize on his superior
movement and hand speed by disrupting Gonzalez’s rhythm, and making him
uncomfortable. An important aspect of this bout is that Yaegashi possesses the strongest
combination of size and skill that Gonzalez has faced thus far.
Yaegashi’s speed and movement was too much for the veteran
Edgar Sosa and most recently, Odilon Zaleta. But against a young and vicious
puncher like Gonzalez, it’ll be important for the champion to stay disciplined and
remain intelligent about his work. Engaging in a firefight against Gonzalez
would not suit Yaegashi and his tendency to lunge forward and reach for some
punches could be very costly against the Nicaraguan. Yaegashi will have to utilize
his jab early and often and take full advantage of his foot and hand speed.
Keeping his hands up at all times while he moves around the ring will be a
necessity as the slightest opening could be all Gonzalez needs to unload his
wide variety of punches and potentially hurt the champion. Yaegashi’s
counterpunching ability will have to be as sharp as it's ever been to be successful tomorrow night.
Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez comes into this fight with a
phenomenal record of 39-0; the undefeated Nicaraguan has knocked out 33 of his
39 opponents. Gonzalez is a ferocious puncher with a relentless style and an
absolute bull of a fighter for a man his size. Gonzalez is coming off
back-to-back knockout performances, although against much lesser fighters.
Gonzalez is looking to win a title in his third division and a victory for the
Nicaraguan superstar would further cement his pound for pound status. The 27
year old already has a fantastic resume and a potential victory over Yaegashi
puts him at the very top of the division.
With two-handed power, brutal combinations and the ability
to puzzle opponents by coming in at various angles, he has a similar skillset
to champions Gennady Golovkin and Sergey Kovalev. His come forward; aggressive
style is backed up by good boxing skills and tremendous technicality. His fight
against Estrada is a great example of how he possesses the ability to mix it up
and utilize a wide variety of punches. His quick and smooth transition of
body to head punches will be some of the toughest Yaegashi has ever had to deal
with. It will be important for Gonzalez to apply smart pressure and to avoid
the potential devastating counter-punches that Yaegashi will be looking to
land. His head movement while coming forward and the angles he creates could be
the difference between a new WBC Flyweight champion, and a boxing clinic by the
current champ.
A fantastic weekend of boxing kicks off with an absolute barn burner of a fight tomorrow in Japan. The top of the Flyweight division will certainly be shaken up within the coming days and it starts tomorrow night in Tokyo.
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